I like to start with a race that i think i can do fun or interesting things with, then i imagine who that character is as a personality, based on that (i look deep into racial culture and ecology) get him like half a back story, then i pick a class that would benefit and seems to be the natural pick for a character in that setting, and keep working with the rule of Justification!
why is his wisdom so low? he is young, naive and sheltered. High int? maybe he is a frustrated, nearly burnt out polymath child prodigy? i just let my character sheet tell me about who they are now, and i let that fill in the blanks in the backstory.
I'm more into the mechanics of the game, so I usually pick the race and class first then decide "Why did they become this way?" or "How did being this way effect them?" Then I make a backstory and pick a background based on that, and sometimes I will change the class or subclass depending on what I come up with.
I start with the "character" and then go forward from there.
Example: Nishi, my Land Druid. I created Nishi 13 years ago for a story I never finished writing. A year or so ago a friend wanted to DM a new campaign and I joined. She said in broad terms what the campaign would be about (our charas are the reborn heroes from 200 years ago, but started out as "normal" people at the start of the campaign). That sounded like it would fit Nishi, so I looked at which race would fit him. He and his family live in a forest village + I like elves = Wood Elf Then it came to choosing a class. Back in my story Nishi could use Water magic and turn into a Raven, so of course he'd be a druid, as for the Circle, I knew that he'd be more focused on casting spells then turning into animals, so I chose Circle of the Land (Coast) to get him access to Water Breathing and Walk on Water. =)
When creating a character for D&D:
-How many of you start with a backstory then choose a class and race based on that backstory?
-How many of you start with the class and race and either decide a backstory based on those or don't create a backstory?
No judgement, I'm not here to say who's right or wrong. My friend and I were discussing this and I'm just curious where the numbers lie.
I like to start with a race that i think i can do fun or interesting things with, then i imagine who that character is as a personality, based on that (i look deep into racial culture and ecology) get him like half a back story, then i pick a class that would benefit and seems to be the natural pick for a character in that setting, and keep working with the rule of Justification!
why is his wisdom so low? he is young, naive and sheltered. High int? maybe he is a frustrated, nearly burnt out polymath child prodigy? i just let my character sheet tell me about who they are now, and i let that fill in the blanks in the backstory.
I'm more into the mechanics of the game, so I usually pick the race and class first then decide "Why did they become this way?" or "How did being this way effect them?" Then I make a backstory and pick a background based on that, and sometimes I will change the class or subclass depending on what I come up with.
I start with the "character" and then go forward from there.
Example: Nishi, my Land Druid.
I created Nishi 13 years ago for a story I never finished writing. A year or so ago a friend wanted to DM a new campaign and I joined. She said in broad terms what the campaign would be about (our charas are the reborn heroes from 200 years ago, but started out as "normal" people at the start of the campaign).
That sounded like it would fit Nishi, so I looked at which race would fit him.
He and his family live in a forest village + I like elves = Wood Elf
Then it came to choosing a class. Back in my story Nishi could use Water magic and turn into a Raven, so of course he'd be a druid, as for the Circle, I knew that he'd be more focused on casting spells then turning into animals, so I chose Circle of the Land (Coast) to get him access to Water Breathing and Walk on Water. =)
Which one depends. Oneshots i do mechanically first and i will max/min
Campaigns where i am invested in, story first, then race then class.